Sparrow hawk

[Saltmoon 2,208]

Sat down for a cuppa while at work today on my tod in a wooded area and heard a couple of birds going at it in a tree next thing a sparrow hawk nailed a black bird to the ground no more then 8ft away from me and flew off with the thing it really was amazing to see nature taking it's cause I'm sure I wont see anything like that again or that close. Have also seen alot of buzzards this year up close. Anyone else got experiences like this? 

[C.green 3,203]

Yeah my goldie took a sting off one couple weeks back and know a few pigeon man that hate em with a passion. Id say there more common than you think.

[fireman 10,774]

I saw once land on my aviary wire once and put it's leg through and grab a bird and then just pulled it's head off through the wire and i used to regularly  (accidently by the way) catch them when i set a larson trap up with a small call bird in it in my garden.

[ChrisJones 7,973]

1 hour ago, Saltmoon said:

Anyone else got experiences like this? 

Sunday morning I let one of the dogs out in the yard and our local golden eagle was trying to figure out how to get to her. Looks like a f*ck*ng pterodactyl flying around but it's getting colder and the easy meals are now in people's yards. No pictures of it yet so THL rules imply that it never happened.

[steve66 3,085]

See more buzzards than kestrals these days around here

[Ratmanwan3 85]

I've seen spars catch a few birds close by including a French partridge which seemed to explode in feathers about 10 yds away but the one that sticks out the most was a magpie chase then knock out the sky a sparrow which It then dropped onto and killed. This happened on a street in a town about 15 foot away.

[j j m 6,481]

spars are coming a lot more on to our estates these days ,ive a female that often visits my garden

[Greyman 25,240]

I live on the outskirts of a massive dock land industrial area and I,ve had lots of sparrow Hawks around for years, I used to have a large aviary full of canary,s that the hawk would smash into on a weekly basis but I also have a lot of bird feeders that are never empty in the garden and it's a guarantee spot for the Hawks dinner as well, I think they fly so low and fast no one really notices them a lot of the time, I watched one a few weeks back come through the local park and ride I was amazed how many people it flew over not a foot above them and not one person noticed it, I can also go in my garden and spot perigrine,s circling up high on an almost daily basis while most around me never know they are there

 

 

[bird 9,594]

12 hours ago, Saltmoon said:

Sat down for a cuppa while at work today on my tod in a wooded area and heard a couple of birds going at it in a tree next thing a sparrow hawk nailed a black bird to the ground no more then 8ft away from me and flew off with the thing it really was amazing to see nature taking it's cause I'm sure I wont see anything like that again or that close. Have also seen alot of buzzards this year up close. Anyone else got experiences like this? 

be great to see that, nature at its best. where i live now got a feeder for the wild birds sparrows , blue tits , etc , when we moved here 4 years ago , the one morning s/h  fles in grabbed a sparrow , and was eating it alive . ok nature   but feckin hell can be cruel at times . But funny thing is not seen one since, and get 10-20 sparrows   feed every day , and no feathers  or any sign  that they killed any, but suppose they must have, pity they cant kill feckin rats  got few of them things in the garden ..!

[bell 3,503]

Found this pair a few years back...………………………...

[ferretracer 24]

Once stepped out the front of the house one summers evening, as sparrow hawk came flying out of the tree in a garden opposite down the alley. I must have startled it or it hit the railings opposite. And as it stopped it dropped the starling it had just grabbed from the tree and buggered off. Amazing site and not what I expect to see in the middle of housing estate in basingstoke.

[tilimangro 1,013]

Drove past a field the other day and saw through the hedge about twenty or so pheasants feeding out in the field 

no shoots around there so when I went past again ten minutes later I double checked

was about twent buzzards feeding on worms 

mental

see them everywhere 

several times I’ve seen a spar sitting on a kill by the side of the road and gone back and parked up so cars can’t hit it

they get sticky footed on kills and can’t let go 

see kites everywhere here and peregrines and hobbies too

they released a couple of pairs of goshawks but local pigeon fanciers put paid to the males 

first hand account of that 

[fireman 10,774]

2 hours ago, bird said:

be great to see that, nature at its best. where i live now got a feeder for the wild birds sparrows , blue tits , etc , when we moved here 4 years ago , the one morning s/h  fles in grabbed a sparrow , and was eating it alive . ok nature   but feckin hell can be cruel at times . But funny thing is not seen one since, and get 10-20 sparrows   feed every day , and no feathers  or any sign  that they killed any, but suppose they must have, pity they cant kill feckin rats  got few of them things in the garden ..!

I had a pig farm a few years back near Ipswich that was crawling with rats and one day me and a pal were walking through it and a spar flew between us and scooped up a young rat that was about 20 ft in front of us so they do take ground vermin sometimes Ray ..

[Greyman 25,240]

10 minutes ago, fireman said:

I had a pig farm a few years back near Ipswich that was crawling with rats and one day me and a pal were walking through it and a spar flew between us and scooped up a young rat that was about 20 ft in front of us so they do take ground vermin sometimes Ray ..

I used to have a small fishing lake a few years ago and often saw them with rat,s  If it's small enough and moves it's game on 

[bird 9,594]

11 minutes ago, fireman said:

I had a pig farm a few years back near Ipswich that was crawling with rats and one day me and a pal were walking through it and a spar flew between us and scooped up a young rat that was about 20 ft in front of us so they do take ground vermin sometimes Ray ..

thanks , we bit of luck they take few of these then ,